Monsignor Galliano J. Cavallaro, of Providence, R.I., is leading a fund- raising drive to help pay legal expenses for top members of the Laborers International Union, indicted in Miami on labor racketeering charges.

Union members around New England were asked to donate to the defense fund through a letter carrying the letterhead of "New England Laborers Defense League" and signed by Cavallaro, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church.

It claimed Angelo Fosco of Chicago and Arthur E. Coia of Providence - the top two officials of the laborers' union are "the targets of a well-orchestrated campaign by the federal government to repress individual rights."

Coia, Fosco and 19 others were indicted on labor racketeering charges earlier this year following a federal investigation of an alleged conspiracy to funnel millions of dollars in kickbacks on union trust funds to organized crime figures.